Dreams caused by the four humours -- An example of how Abarbanel is a Torah UMaddah-nik, paying heed to the (unfortunately incorrect) science of his time. If not for it being incorrect, though, we might not know that he is doing this..

The meaning of Tzofnas Paneach --
Can we know the meaning or, due to our sins, did we lose this Hebraic knowledge? If the latter, can this serve as an excuse to confidently advance the traditional explanation, "Revealer of Hidden Things?".

Ibn Caspi, and the overwhelming authority of nikkud, pt i -- I saw two interesting comments in Ibn Caspi on Mikeitz which reference how nikkud determines meaning, such that of course one cannot argue on nikkud. Because this was encoded by the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah based on the received tradition from Moshe Rabbenu. Compare with the approach of other meforshim, as discussed by Shadal in his Vikuach. Here, I analyze one of the two comments. I wonder at the particular applications he gives, for his nikkud appears different from ournikkud. Then, I turn to consider his parallel case in Kohelet, where he is certainly right as to the meaning of the nikkud, even as it truly seems that the meaning of the pasuk should be otherwise.
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Ibn Caspi and nikkud, pt ii -- In a previous post on Miketz, I discussed Ibn Caspi on nikkud, and how he felt that a particularkamatz on a word indicated the position of the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah. Though we do not have that particular kamatz, this is an important assertion, especially when combined with what we have in this post, that the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah got this meaning from Moshe. And combine that with what we saw in an earlier comment regarding trup, that since it reflects original intent, it makes no sense to argue with it.

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Here, we consider Ibn Caspi's comment about the kamatz in hanimtza, whether it is dispositive, and whether it really means to preclude the first person plural verb.

Junior on Miketz and Chanukkah -- regarding Miketz, that when the Torah relates that Yosef gathered up all the food, it couldn't have been literally all the food, for otherwise the Egyptians would have nothing to eat. Ibn Ezra makes the same point.

2008

In the course of Vikuach al Chochmat haKabbalah, Shadal claims that Ibn Ezra and Rashbam go against the trup in explaining a pasuk in parshat Miketz, about all the countries coming to Egypt, to Yosef, to buy grain. Perhaps another post is in order exploring just how this goes against the trup.
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Miketz sources -- all osrts of sources for studying this week's Torah portion. Including mikraos gedolos and many meforshim you might not otherwise have access to.
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Parsha points on Miketz -- all in one paragraph; the daled-resh switchoff; the matching text to biladay; and at length, parallels with the Haftara, of Shlomo Hamelech's dream.
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The Miketz - Daniel parallel -- first Daniel borrowing theme and language from Miketz, and then Chazal borrowing material from Daniel to supplement the midrashic narrative of Miketz.

2006

What Is Bothering Joshy? רְדוּ-שָׁמָּה -- How the "What is Bothering Rashi?" approach can go wrong. How focusing on the textual cues as what is quote unquote bothering Rashi can be misleading. And how a better question is "What is Motivating Rashi?" Indeed, in the particular devar I take apart, there are a few assertions, based on this approach, which turn out simply not to be so.

2005

The Goblet and the Terafim -- Thematic parallels between the story of Binyamin and the goblet, and Rachel and the terafim. And how Binyamin is perhaps involved in each case..

Why Whole Years? Simply put, so that it will be Pharaoh's birthday once again..

Put In A Prison, Taken From A Pit -- Even though Yosef is put into prison, he is taken from a bor, a pit. Just as at the start he is placed in a pit by his brothers. I suggest here that is deliberate. Each time he is removed from the pit, he is moved by a hidden Divine hand toward the position of royal vizier. We can collapse the middle section, and it is almost as if the events in Potifar's house didn't happen. This hidden Divine hand is made explicit in parshat Vayechi. Also, the role of dreams in advancing the narrative is a mark of the hidden Divine hand. This happens as well in Megillat Esther, as I write elsewhere..

Bemidbar: Lift Up The Heads (2005) And the dual meaning. And Bemidbar has a third use of the term.

First, they removed him from the pit, equivalent to taking the woman out of the captives quarters and into the man's house. Then, he shaved. I would say not shaved exactly, but sheared. He cut his hair and became hygenic. Similarly, the beautiful captive gets to cut her hair which surely became unkempt during captivity. Finally, he changed from his prison clother. Similarly, the female captive gets to change into fresh garments, which, being a captive she probably did not get much opportunity to do.

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parshablog is published by (rabbi) josh waxman (joshwaxman [at] yahoo [dot] com), a grad student in Revel, a grad student in a Phd program in computer science at CUNY. i recently received semicha from RIETS. this blog is devoted to parsha as well as whatever it is i am currently learning.